Does anyone have a trick for laying going leaf over raised sandblasted letters, without the excess leaf getting in your signfoam substrate. Seems like you can never get it out of its textured surface. Also any tricks too on getting the best gold leaf finish...Seen beautiful stuff. I've tried letting gold size dry longer and wet sanding primed letters before sizing.. Thanks
Posted by Nevman (Member # 332) on :
Try sprinkling a little baby powder on the sign, wipe off the letters with a cotton cloth and use an oil size. I mention the size because there are water-based sizes out there and they tend to attract the powder.
Good Luck!
Posted by bronzeo (Member # 1408) on :
Ross, You are obviously gilding against a painted background if it is HDU. I would assume it much easier to just repaint the areas of which you speak, rather than fight the problem. Use a toothbrush or other to get rid of the moveable gold chatter and then just touchup with paint..... That's what I do and it's really the easiest cleanup that I've done on sandblasted areas. I would think talc or resist would be more of a problem on this surface than the gold which you CAN paint over ..Bronzeo
[ December 21, 2001: Message edited by: bronzeo ]
Posted by Kent Smith (Member # 251) on :
If the background paint is dry and the leaf is not actually sticking, use a shop vac or dust buster to pick up the loose gold.
For a brighter finish, be sure the surface is completely smooth before applying mask and blasting. Use a good filling primer such as high-build and 600 grit wet sand as a final. A slower size will give you the better brilliance too.
Posted by Bruce Deveau (Member # 1600) on :
Hello Matthew,
Regarding the gilded finish, I never work over primer, sanded or not. I believe the surface is better able to handle the gold size with stability and consistency if it has an actual finish coat on it. I notice that Kent Smith did not make this recommendation, and I consider him a great resource...possibly the primer used over HDU is different from the primer used over wood.
Bruce
Posted by Rich Stebbing (Member # 368) on :
For leaf stuck in the groove I use air pressure to blast it out. It's either that or background paint. For extra luster,...try this: after applying leaf use a large soft cosmetic brush to "knock-off" excess using a light touch. OK, now take a piece of chamois and wet the chamois with distilled water. Now ring-out the chamois good. Take chamois and pull across gold in one direction only being sure to fold over piece of chamois for next pull so not to be dragging bits of "picked-up" gold back into next area. This technique is called "laying the gold down" and will produce a better luster. There you have it!
